Published on Tuesday, November 21, 2006
in the Gainesville Sun

Patrolling holiday traffic from 2,500 feet

LAKE CITY - Florida Highway Patrol Sgt. Andy Foote kept his eyes trained on the black car as it zipped north on Interstate 75 at 99 mph.

But unlike most troopers, Foote didn't catch the driver in the FHP's trademark beige-and-brown patrol cars.

Instead, Foote was 2,500 feet above I-75 just south of here on a cloudy November day in a fixed-wing Cessna 175 - one of seven law-enforcement planes the FHP uses statewide in air traffic enforcement. Foote, who logs about 55 flight hours a month and flies in areas stretching from Tallahassee to Jacksonville and south to Marion County, said that he patrols the Gainesville and North Central Florida area for about eight hours each week. Pilots patrol interstates and county and state roads, Foote added.

"I've got a fishbowl view," Foote said as he hovered above a staging area where four troopers waited for him to call out speeding vehicles over the radio. "I can see them, but they can't see me."

The FHP will rely heavily on pilots such as Foote during the approaching holidays to catch speed and traffic violators in an effort to curb the rise in fatal crashes, said Lt. Mike Burroughs, spokesman for the FHP.

"The pilots can get to areas quicker than we can (on the ground)," Burroughs said. "They can spot disabled vehicles, help in manhunts or in observing serious crashes. They're such a unique useful tool."

Statewide, crash fatalities have climbed in the last three years during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, according to a report from the state Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. Speed is a factor in 25 percent of all serious and fatal crashes, Burroughs said.

Foote said that he hopes people will slow down and drive more safely to reverse that trend.

A veteran of the FHP for 26 years, with eight of those as a pilot, Foote looped above a one-mile stretch of northbound I-75 with a stopwatch in hand. Within 10 minutes, he clocked five cars going in excess of 85 mph. Foote said that he only clocks drivers who are doing 85 mph or higher.

Currently, seven pilots patrol the state from the air and each write an average of 1,000 tickets a month, Foote said.

A trooper on the ground averages about 200 tickets a month, Foote said.

The process

So how exactly does a pilot track how fast someone is going 2,500 feet below?

Speeding vehicles are clocked by how fast it takes them to cross at least two speed-zone lines which are 12-inch-wide white lines spaced 1,320 feet apart, Foote said.

After timing the average speed of a violator, Foote tells the trooper on the ground which lane the car is traveling in, a description and color of the car and where it is in relation to a staging area marker, such as a certain overpass.

When the trooper gets behind a vehicle to stop it, Foote will then confirm that the trooper has the right car, and circle back around to start the process over again, he said.

"If at any time I lose visual contact with a car, I'll tell the trooper to stand down," Foote said. "I'm not going to write a ticket to someone I can't say for sure was speeding."

For troopers on the ground, having eyes in the air helps make their job easier, said FHP Sgt. Tracy Higler-Pace, who was one of the troopers working the detail from the ground.

"Having that perspective is a major help in the defense against speeding," Higler-Pace said. "They can see things we can't see."

Higler-Pace said some motorists are surprised or doubtful when she pulls them over and tells them how they were clocked.

"There's always a few who don't believe it," Higler-Pace said. "We've even had a few people ask that the plane fly overhead so they can see it."

Motorists' take

Although there are signs at several entry points into Florida, some motorists are unaware they are being watched from the air.

Nilda Johnson of Gainesville didn't know about the air patrols. Johnson, who was pumping gas Thursday at the BP station on Williston Road said she and her family are heading to Miami for Thanksgiving and that she uses I-75 every day.

"I think it's kind of sneaky," Johnson said of the patrols, "but people shouldn't be speeding anyway."

Some motorists, like Peter Sanders, applaud air traffic enforcement.

Sanders, who was stopping to gas up at the Citgo on Williston Road on his way back to Hickory, N.C., Thursday afternoon, said he had no clue the FHP patrolled the interstate by air, but thinks it's a good idea.

"They're only trying to protect the citizens," Sanders said. "There a lot of people that are crazy with the speeding, so I think it's a good thing they're doing."